


checkered blankets and fluffy clouds

by jeonghoneys



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Everyone Apart From Minchan Are Kids, Family Fluff, Kid Fic, Lee Felix (Stray Kids) is a Sweetheart, M/M, Stray Kids are Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:15:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26420989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeonghoneys/pseuds/jeonghoneys
Summary: In his defence, Chan hadn’t thought a simple picnic in the park would be this exhausting. He distinctly remembers picnics from his own childhood, which consisted of going to the park, eating, playing and going back home, as being very lax and easy.Well, he supposes, of course it must be harder from the other side.(Or, Chan and Minho take the kids out on a picnic. It may be exhausting, but they wouldn't have it any other way.)
Relationships: Bang Chan/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 42
Kudos: 172





	checkered blankets and fluffy clouds

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kittykais](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittykais/gifts).



> To [chia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_world_full_of_wisdom/pseuds/a_world_full_of_wisdom),  
> Happy birthday, twinsie!! I'm sorry this week has sucked ;-; but here's to a wonderful year for you!! Ilysm chi 💕

In his defence, Chan hadn’t thought a simple picnic in the park would be this exhausting. He distinctly remembers picnics from his own childhood, which consisted of going to the park, eating, playing and going back home, as being very lax and _easy_.

Well, he supposes, of course it must be harder from the other side.

The day starts with Jisung flinging himself on top of Chan and Minho as they lie in bed, blissfully fast asleep. Jisung, in a display of extreme skill, somehow manages to hit both of them in extremely painful places with his bony knees. Chan incorporates a, ‘Quiet, Sungie, you’ll wake Innie!’ into his pained wheeze, and Jisung cuts off his shrieks a second too late.

All heads turn to Jeongin’s cot, which faces Minho’s side of the bed. Jeongin lies there peacefully, looking like the poster child for calmness. Chan lets out a sigh of relief and Minho slumps back into his pillows.

Someone cuddles Chan’s leg and he looks down to see Changbin. From the looks of things, he’s been there for a while, maybe half the night (which isn’t as long as it sounds when you remember that they’re frazzled parents who get maybe five hours of sleep regularly). Changbin, since he climbs into their beds most nights, is a lot better at being quiet and avoiding waking Jeongin up than Jisung, whose excited whispers are steadily rising in pitch. Changbin, whose favourite sibling, something he declares very often, is Jeongin, clamps his hand over Jisung’s mouth before Chan can wake up enough to comprehend what he’s saying.

‘It’s picnic day!’ Hyunjin declares from the doorway. Three people shush him urgently, and Jisung turns to Minho and repeats Hyunjin’s sentence in a whisper.

‘It’s picnic day,’ Minho tells Chan blearily, as he sits up and rubs his eyes. Even after all these years, Chan still gets a thrill waking up next to him. Gross. ‘How exciting.’

‘Picnic day!’ Chan whispers excitedly, although the very notion of picnic day fills him with dread. Why did he let himself be persuaded into having a picnic by Jisung? For a three-year-old, Jisung is already surprisingly proficient in asking Chan for things before he’s had the chance to down his coffee. ‘Who’s awake already?’

Felix wanders into the room, holding a piece of paper. ‘ _I’m_ awake already,’ he mutters. ‘I’ve been awake for _ages_. No one gave me breakfast.’

‘Aw, baby, you know we said that if you’re hungry but we’re not awake, you can come and get us. Remember that next time, okay? If you’re hungry, come and wake us up and we’ll give you breakfast.’ Minho holds his arms out to Felix. ‘What did you draw?’

‘I’m hungry _now_ ,’ Felix mutters, but he wriggles his way onto Minho’s lap and shows him the paper. ‘It’s a cake. Somi said _her_ birthday cake is going to look like this, Appa. And she said I’m not invited to her party, which is _mean_. I _want_ to go to her party!’

‘Well, today is picnic day,’ Chan interjects, before Felix can have a tantrum and wake Jeongin up. ‘We’ll see about her party another day, okay? Can I see your cake?’

Chan stares at the four rectangles, pink, beige, pink and beige in that order, for exactly the right amount of time. He has long since mastered the skill of guessing what it is his children have drawn, and Felix has, in any case, already told him that it’s a cake.

‘I like the sprinkles,’ Chan says, squinting at them. The room is dark, because the curtains are still closed, but he’s pretty sure the sprinkles are Minho’s special work highlighters. Oh well. He will pretend he does not see it.

‘So Changbin, Hyunjin, Jisung and Felix are awake? How many of you have been to the bathroom?’ Minho is already collecting the toothbrushes and toothpaste, and chivvying the kids towards the bathroom. Chan is impressed that Minho can bring himself to leave the comfortable warmth of the bed. As everyone files out, Chan tears himself away from the warm and loving embrace of his bed. He gives Minho a quick peck on the cheek and starts making the bed. It’s 07:04. If they’re quick enough, they might manage to be out of the house by 09:00.

Bed made, Chan goes down to the kitchen. He starts the coffee machine and pulls open the blinds. There’s an orange peel on the counter, which means Felix has had an orange as a snack. Thank god. It will have taken the edge off his hunger. Chan throws it away and sets out four plates and two bowls on the table. He puts the coco pops and milk next to them, pulls out a chopping board and starts making a sandwich. Since Felix’s friend Eric had brought a cheese and tomato toastie into school one day, Felix has been asking for one for breakfast every day. Felix asking for one means Jisung asks for one. Jisung asking for one means Seungmin asks for one. Felix, Jisung and Seungmin having toasties means Hyunjin demands one as well. Breakfast, Chan reflects as he pops the first two into the toaster, used to be a lot easier and quicker to prepare.

On his way back up, Chan passes Minho and half of the kids on their way down. ‘Breakfast,’ he says and gestures down the stairs. Minho gives him a grateful nod.  
Chan walks into the Bunk Beds Room, so called because, you guessed it, it’s the room with bunk beds. _Two_ sets of bunk beds, to be exact. Felix and Jisung, and Hyunjin and Seungmin.

‘Minnie,’ Chan murmurs, ruffling his hair once before crossing the room and kneeling next to Felix’s bunk. The space between Felix’s bed and the top bunk is too small for Chan to be able to sit on his bed comfortably. ‘Time to wake up, baby.’ As he talks to Seungmin, Chan makes Felix’s bed, which is strewn with pebbles, for some reason. Ah well. Who is Chan to question the minds of little geniuses? ‘Up, up, up. Your toastie will get cold.’

Seungmin makes a grumbling sound that Chan would _not_ have found adorable before having kids. ‘I don’t _wanna_!’ he groans, sounding surprisingly lucid for someone who has supposedly just been woken up.

Chan prepares his Secret Weapon. ‘It’s picnic day,’ he whispers into Seungmin’s ear.

Seungmin springs out of bed with such haste Chan thinks he should laugh. He settles Seungmin in the bathroom.

‘I want to wear my green shirt today.’

Chan doesn’t blink, even though said shirt is an absolutely hideous neon shade of green. Kids have no _taste_. But since they’re going to the park, it’s safe to say the shirt will end up drenched in mud anyway, and who is Chan to stand between Seungmin and an eyeball-scorching shirt?

Once Seungmin is dressed and ready, Chan ushers him downstairs. Thankfully, their toasties are not cold.

Minho passes Chan his own sandwich before rushing upstairs with the bottle of formula. Jeongin normally wakes up around this time, and he wakes up hungry. Oh well. The perks - and Chan means this in a particularly unperky manner - of having a baby who’s just got over their acid reflux. Poor Jeongin, Chan thinks. Acid reflux sounds horrible. You can’t set the poor child down to sleep after feeding because his stomach acid will come back to haunt him. Most babies spend their first few months crying, eating and pooing. Poor Jeongin spent his crying, eating, immediately vomiting, crying some more, and then pooing. At least he’s growing now.

Chan bites into his toastie, and for a second he feels grateful to Felix’s friend Eric. It tastes _divine_ , and it’s actually warm! Chan is eating food while it’s still warm! A few months ago, if you’d told Chan he would be having a hot meal without having to reheat it or suffer through it cold, he’d laugh in your face and then continue chasing after his kids.

Minho comes down as Chan is washing everyone’s faces, Jeongin blinking in his arms. ‘Is everyone ready?’

Chan nods and marshals them into the corridor. ‘Let me just get dressed, Min.’ This time, at least, Chan has remembered that he’s still in his pyjamas. (He’s wiped the incident where he accidentally dropped Hyunjin, Jisung, Felix and Seungmin off to playschool in his pyjamas from his mind completely, even though the nice ladies were very understanding.)

‘Minnie’s saying we promised we’d get chicken next time we have a picnic,’ Minho says as Chan comes down, holding Hyunjin’s head still and trying to brush his hair. Hyunjin, to his credit, seems to be trying very hard to stay still, but some things are sadly impossible when two of your brothers are chasing each other around the corridor and it’s taking everything in you not to join them.

‘Did we?’ Chan grabs Felix’s coat and helps him put his arms through the sleeves. ‘Yay. Chicken is great.’

‘Absolutely,’ Minho says, looking up. His eyes travel down Chan’s body, taking in his black skinny jeans with rips that dance along the line between child-friendly and horrified parents. Chan knows they’re going out with the kids, but it’s been so _long_ since he dressed up. Minho doesn’t seem to have a problem with it, anyway.

‘Damn, Channie,’ he says. Like he can say anything, especially when Minho dresses like this almost every time they leave the house. Chan eyes the belt chain tinkling whenever Minho takes a step.

Felix chooses this moment to butt in with, ‘You told me ‘damn’ is a bad word! You’re not allowed to say it!’ Oh, the fierce righteousness of young children.

‘Damn, Channie!’ Jisung says, with all the vigour of a young child saying something he knows he shouldn’t. ‘Damn, Channie, damn, Channie, damn, Channie!’  
Hyunjin and Seungmin cackle and join in eagerly, raising the pitch so high Chan is surprised they haven’t crossed into pitches too high for human ears.

‘Don’t call him Channie,’ Minho admonishes, shaking his finger at them. ‘Only I get to call him Channie. It’s not polite to call adults their first names. You call him daddy.’

‘Daddy?’ Chan asks Minho, trying his best to sound completely innocent. ‘Is there something you want to tell me, _darling_?’ 

Minho glares at him.

Miraculously, they’re out of the door by 09:15. The drive to the park is not as nerve-wracking as it could have been, the kids’ joyful shrieks a pleasant background noise once you’ve heard them enough. Minho mutters a quick, ‘Thank _god_ we didn’t have to take them in the bus,’ and Chan nods a fervent affirmative.

The second Minho parks the car, the boys let out an ear-splitting yell. ‘Picnic day!’

They manage to get set up on a low hill that overlooks the playground fairly quickly. At the smell of chicken, the boys rush to kick off their shoes and sit on the picnic mat, beaming as Minho places the steaming bags in front of them.

Hyunjin, Jisung and Felix tear into their chicken with such fervour that Chan feels his own stomach rumbling, even though he’d eaten not long ago. Changbin waits until Minho has handed him a wipe before digging in. At least one of his kids, Chan thinks thankfully, has clean hands.

Seungmin has two bites of his chicken before throwing it down, declaring, ‘I don’t want chicken anymore! I hate it!’

Maybe he should just pretend he can’t hear Seungmin, Chan thinks. The headache forming behind his eyes agrees. Sadly, Minho shoots Chan a pleading look, and well, who has Chan ever been to refuse that look? Oh well. It was a good plan while it lasted.

‘Minnie,’ Chan starts. ‘You know we don’t say we hate a food. It’s not to our taste, okay? And you can’t throw your food, you know that, baby.’

Seungmin glares at him, but mutters a sorry.

‘What would you like to eat instead, then?’

‘Crackers,’ Seungmin says, pointing at poor Minho’s chia seed crackers. Minho lets out a sigh that Chan feels more than hears, and nudges his crackers towards Seungmin.

‘Here, Minnie, crackers. Don’t eat too quickly, you don’t want to be sick.’

Seungmin ignores them, cramming the crackers into his mouth. Chan pats Minho’s knee sympathetically. They’ll have to give Seungmin a big dinner tonight, to make up for the crackers. Chan wonders absently if there’s any Bolognese sauce left in the fridge. He’s sure they’ve still got some spaghetti in the cupboard.

‘Done!’ Jisung shrieks, jumping up. Felix and Hyunjin immediately copy him.

‘Me too!’

‘Can we play now?’ Jisung asks, and barely gives Chan enough time to nod before he’s off, taking Felix and Hyunjin with him, playing tag. Chan only just manages to shout, ‘Stay where we can see you!’ before they run out of earshot.

‘Can I read to Innie?’ Changbin asks, taking the pile of baby books out of Jeongin’s nappy bag and dropping them, edges down, directly onto Chan’s lap. Why do they make baby books out of such heavy cardboard?

‘Not yet, Binnie,’ Chan says, looking at Jeongin, who’s fallen asleep in his infant carrier. Bless the thing. It works as a car seat and you can also detach it to carry the baby around in. Chan used to find it heavy, but after lugging it around so much... Chan looks at his arms. Well, it’s not like Minho has any complaints, and neither does he. ‘When he wakes up, okay?’

‘Okay,’ Changbin says, and settles against Chan to read his own book, digging his chin into Chan’s leg. Chan feels an immense swell of pride (and an ache in his leg) when he notices Changbin is only barely mouthing the words to himself - that’s almost silent reading! In his head! At the grand old age of five!

Minho mournfully takes back the empty packet of crackers from Seungmin. ‘Do you want to go play tag with the others, Minnie?’

‘Play tag with _me_ ,’ Hyunjin suggests, as his tactic for this battle of tag seems to be _run back to the parents before anyone can catch me_. ‘I’m better at it than they are.’ That’s debatable, Chan thinks.

‘Okay,’ Seungmin says, standing up and letting Chan put his shoes back on.

Hyunjin chases Seungmin up a tree.

‘Should we do something about that?’ Chan asks.

Minho watches as Seungmin pelts Hyunjin with pine cones. ‘I think they’ll be fine, Channie.’

Changbin gets through three chapters before Chan, spotting that Jeongin has woken up, nudges him gently. ‘Do you remember you said you wanted to read with Jeongin, Binnie?’

Changbin looks up. ‘I can read to him now?’

Chan smiles and passes him the small stack of baby books. Changbin grabs one eagerly and moves to sit next to Jeongin’s car seat. He starts reading loudly, waving the book in Jeongin’s face so that he can see the pictures.

‘Red dots, black dots, white dots, _big_ red dots...’

Changbin hadn’t liked Jeongin’s baby books at first, but after Chan told him that Jeongin really liked looking at the shapes and colours, Changbin had been a lot happier. Apparently he hadn’t wanted to read Jeongin boring books. Chan’s heart might have melted a little when he found out.

As Changbin moves on to the next book, which has one cat, two cats, three cats and _four_ cats, Minho shuffles so he’s sitting next to Chan, pressed against him, and bites into Seungmin’s poor chicken. Chan watches his mouth absentmindedly. Gosh, when was the last time they’d had a date? Six kids really puts a strain on your couple time. Maybe Chan can get someone to watch the kids soon. They’d been asking to have a sleepover for a while. Maybe Seungcheol could take them? It’s not like he’d notice an extra six kids, what with his nine kids and babies Chan and Samuel, and Felix wanted to play with Vernon again. Then Chan can take Minho out somewhere really nice. Or maybe they’ll stay in, and enjoy the miracles of having an empty bedroom. It’s not like Jeongin minds, but with five kids who might have a nightmare and come to sleep with them, they don’t really have the time to fool around.

Minho moans, bringing Chan back to earth with a bump. He smiles. Minho certainly has his ways of getting Chan’s attention. Chan is well acquainted with that moan, although they haven’t had a chance to meet in a while. He likes to think he has a talent for bringing it out.

‘The chicken is that good, huh?’

Minho nods. ‘That, and you looked pretty distracted. Penny for your thoughts?’

‘I was just thinking,’ Chan says, placing one of his hands on Minho’s thigh. ‘We haven’t had much time to ourselves lately. I was thinking Seungcheol could take the kids for a day, or for an afternoon, or maybe even that sleepover the kids want-’

‘I don’t know if that would work, Channie,’ Minho sighs. He looks at his hands and makes a face at Seungmin’s chicken, before putting it back down. He places his now free hand on top of Chan’s. ‘Joshua’s in the states at the moment, so Jeonghan and Seungcheol are being run off their feet. If they didn’t have Jihoon and Wonwoo, I’m not sure they’d be managing all right.’

‘I thought Junhui was their oldest?’ Chan says. Sometimes he forgets whether it’s Jisung or Felix who’s older by a day, you can’t really blame him for forgetting the ages of other people’s kids. ‘We should cook for them and take it round, then. I can’t believe they manage so well without Josh.’

‘Yeah,’ Minho hums. ‘And Junhui is their oldest, but Jihoon and Wonwoo are a little more careful. Like Binnie, you know?’

Chan nods. ‘Maybe Brian can take the kids, then?’

Minho bursts out laughing. ‘You’d trust _Brian_ with our kids? Brian, of all people?’

Chan grins and knocks Minho’s head with their joined hands. ‘All right. Maybe Jihyo noona can take them. I think she’s free later this week.’

‘Okay, Channie,’ Minho says. He swings their hands together and nudges Chan’s shoulder with his, smiling shyly. Gosh, this is _not_ good for Chan’s heart. ‘And what would we do on this free afternoon of ours?’

‘Maybe we could have a picnic of our own. You know, like the one we had when it was just Binnie, and Jinyoung took him to that bouncy castle place.’

‘The picnic where we accidentally shocked some ahjummas by-’

Chan clamps a hand across Minho’s mouth just as Changbin comes up and dumps the pile of books in front of them. ‘We read them all! Can I brush Jeongin’s hair?’ Changbin loves giving Jeongin pineapples, and other hairstyles where his hair just goes straight out against his head. It’s a wonderful hobby, as Chan and Minho love taking pictures of Jeongin with pineapples and other increasingly ridiculous hairstyles.

‘Maybe later, Binnie,’ Minho says. ‘I think Jisung and the others want you to play with them, look.’ He points to where Jisung and Felix, standing next to the slide, are energetically waving their arms and beckoning to Changbin to join them.

‘Okay!’ Changbin says, and runs off to join them.

Minho waves after him and brings a piece of chicken up to Chan’s mouth.

‘We’re in public, Min,’ Chan mumbles around the chicken, although he doesn’t move from where Minho’s pressed his finger to Chan’s lips. Minho just gives him a sunny smile. Chan sighs and swallows the chicken. Minho is, quite unfairly, cheating. He knows that smile makes Chan weak, has known since Chan whispered it, giggling, into Minho’s ear on their ninth date, and has exploited it quite ruthlessly ever since.

Chan leans his head on Minho’s shoulder and tucks himself into Minho’s side. When Minho slips his arm about Chan’s waist, he hums, pleased. ‘Love you, Min,’ he mumbles into Minho’s neck.

‘I love you too, Channie,’ Minho says, resting his cheek on Chan’s head.

Obviously, their peace lasts all of thirty seconds before Hyunjin and Seungmin run up.

‘He pushed me into _mud_!’ Hyunjin seethes. His clothes, splattered so much that brown covers the original colours, testify to this statement.

Chan is impressed. The average three-year-old is incapable of pushing another three-year-old very hard, as they lack any great strength, and as Chan knows, moving a three-year-old when they don’t want to be moved is a far better workout than three hours at the gym.

Seungmin doesn’t say anything. He just bursts into tears, and lets that do the talking for him.

‘Oh, hey, baby,’ Minho murmurs, taking Seungmin into his arms. He hushes Seungmin gently and rocks him.

‘Sorry, sweetheart,’ Chan says, taking Hyunjin’s arm and pulling him down. ‘But you know he’s only little.’ As Chan grabs a wipe from Jeongin’s nappy bag and starts cleaning Hyunjin’s face, Hyunjin sighs.

‘I know,’ he mutters defeatedly, conveniently forgetting that he’s _also_ ‘only little’. Chan’s heart melts a little at Hyunjin’s pout. He knows just what will make him happy, though.

‘I think today will be a ‘fancy conditioner’ day,’ Chan says to Minho, over the top of Hyunjin’s head. Said top of head is muddy and somehow strewn with twigs, like Hyunjin had tried to force his way through a hedge.

‘Definitely,’ Minho agrees. Fancy conditioner is what Hyunjin calls the many bottles of hotel conditioner Jae had brought round once because he knew how much Hyunjin liked the small bottles. Being smaller than the average bottle of conditioner, hotel conditioners are a lot easier for Hyunjin to grip in his tiny hands and accidentally squeeze down the drain, and seeing as how Jae travels a lot and the conditioners aren’t coming out of their own money, it’s a win-win for Chan and Minho.  
Jae doesn’t have an infinite supply, though, so they generally reserve fancy conditioner for especially dirty days, to help Hyunjin feel extra clean.

‘Fancy conditioner?’ Hyunjin’s eyes light up. Oh, how Chan loves being right about his kids.

‘Definitely, sweetheart,’ Chan says. Hyunjin grins and shuffles so his head is pressed against Chan’s arm. His _muddy_ head. Chan’s arm, which is covered by a lovely black-and-white striped sleeve. Only by dint of having lots of practice does Chan manage to suppress a shudder. He makes a note - they’ll need to pick up more laundry detergent next time they do the weekly shop. Possibly a new mop as well, if Hyunjin’s muddy condition is anything to go by - in cleaning the floor after he’s trekked dirt through the house, their trusty old mop will surely be too dirty to ever clean anything again. In the corner of his eye, Chan can see Changbin, Jisung and Felix jumping into a pile of leaves. Wet, muddy leaves that stick to their clothes.  
Suddenly Chan wants nothing more than to stay in the park for the rest of his life, and never go back home. Heck, he’ll even eat faerie food, just to avoid having to go home and clean the boys. That sounds pretty promising right about now. Maybe he should take the boys and go looking for a mushroom circle, or something. He goes by Chris _and_ Chan, so the faeries won’t be able to keep him forever, anyway.

Jeongin starts wailing. Of course he does, Chan thinks, dragging a hand down his face. Being a baby, Jeongin has a kind of sixth sense for when Chan plans to do anything ever. Proof: he always picks the second Chan has sat down to dinner to need his nappy changed, and the second Chan needs to go to the bathroom to need to be fed, and, of course, when Chan is right on the brink of falling asleep, Jeongin decides that he’s too cold, or too hot, and being a baby, all he can do about it is cry. Loudly.

Chan leans across to the car seat and picks Jeongin up. He peers down Jeongin’s nappy. Yep - it’s time for the great nappy bag to make an appearance. As Chan sets out the nappy changing mat, Hyunjin and Seungmin make matching expressions of disgust and run off to join the others in the leaves.

Once Jeongin, nappy clean once more, stops crying, Minho says, ‘Don’t you think we should pack up soon?’ Chan looks at the sky. Surprisingly - or not, considering how hectic today has been - it’s already well into the afternoon. ‘You know we’ll have five of them to wash, and the sooner we start the more likely they are to be in bed on time.’

‘You’re right,’ Chan agrees. Personally, he’s hoping that by bath-time they’ll all be too tired from playing to put up much of a fuss. ‘Do you want to go get them while I pack up here?’  
Minho nods and leans across to peck Chan before getting up to gather the kids. Chan gently puts Jeongin back inside his car seat and starts packing away the rubbish and the leftovers. When he looks up from the picnic bag, he’s blessed with the sight of five of his kids following Minho like ducklings do their mama duck. It’s a particularly precious sight, and Chan’s heart squeezes a little.

Maybe they should visit a farm one day. Changbin would definitely like that.

Chan picks up the nappy bag, the picnic bag and Jeongin’s car seat, then nods towards the picnic mat. ‘Alright, boys, time to shake it out.’

They let out cheers of varyingly shrill volume, then rush forward to each grab part of the mat. They shake it very, very vigorously, and Chan is certain that the crumbs are _all_ gone. When he voices this thought, however, he is drowned out by five voices crying out that _no, they’re not done, they’re nowhere_ near _done_.

Oh well. Chan stands well back and watches as they continue to energetically shake out the mat. The different speeds and strengths which they utilise mean that the mat is more or less always flying out of someone’s grasp.

Chan knows better than to get in the way of this. Minho, also blessed with knowledge their children are not, comes up behind him. ‘I’ll take Innie,’ he says, and gently takes Jeongin’s infant carrier from Chan. Chan smiles at him and Minho leans over and pokes his finger into one of Chan’s dimples.

On the drive home, half of the boys fall asleep, tired out from playing so energetically.

‘Look at them,’ Minho whispers. Chan glances back in the rearview mirror, and his heart squeezes. ‘Aren’t they precious?’

‘Yeah,’ Chan says, because they are. He loves his boys so much. And then, because his sole aim in life, all these years later, is still to make Minho blush as much as Minho makes _him_ blush, he says, ‘You know who else is precious?’

‘Shut up,’ Minho says, but he still reaches over and pats Chan’s thigh, and does a soft little giggle like a schoolboy. 

Back home, they manage to get through the showers fairly quickly. Thank _god_ Jeongin is a baby, only just able to crawl, and as such unable to run headfirst into muddy puddles. Imagine having to wash _six_ boys, and not the five they already have to wash - although Jisung, true to form, manages to be as exhausting to wash as two boys.

By dinner time, however, they’ve all - apart from Seungmin and, strangely, Jisung - managed to regain their energy, and decide that a game of tag around the house is in order before they can even think about eating. Chan is torn away from watching Jisung and Seungmin calmly colour in one corner of the living room (god knows the only time those two leave each other alone is when they’re exhausted - it’s like they were born simply to rile each other up) by an eager Felix entreating him to take part in their game. Chan, it seems, has no choice but to say yes, because Hyunjin and Changbin very cleverly utilise the Make Puppy Dog Eyes At Chan Until He Melts technique - a damned affective technique, truly, and one Chan has fallen victim to so many times that he can’t count them, not even if he used the hands of everybody in the household. It’s at this point that Minho likes to say that he never learns, but Minho is too busy chasing after Felix, who seems to have escaped before Minho had the chance to finish dressing him. The Spider-Man pyjama shirt hangs limply from one of Minho’s hands as he tries to grab Felix with the other. Across the room, Jisung holds his arms out for Seungmin to roll up the sleeves of his matching shirt. Seungmin rolls then up with the kind of precision that’s the neatest a three-year-old can be. As Chan chases after Hyunjin and grabs him, Felix runs straight into his legs. Chan immediately seizes him, and Minho swoops in with the shirt. Operation Get Felix Fully Dressed is complete. Operation Get The Kids To Sit Down For Dinner is _not_ , because Changbin hasn’t been caught yet.

With the help of Minho, however, it’s not long until they’ve caught him, and smothered him in the penalty for being caught - in this case, kisses. Chan claps his hands. ‘Dinner time, boys!’ he sings, and they all troop merrily after him to the dining room.

Dinner is, thankfully, quiet. Changbin, Hyunjin and Felix calm down enough that the table isn’t loud or messy, the most energetic thing they do being kicking their legs wildly under the table. After years of this, Chan would like to say his legs are immune to the sudden accidental kicks he always seems to suffer - but they _aren’t_ and god do they _hurt_. It seems that eating with a smile and ignoring the sharp pain in your shins is a skill you pick up when you have kids.

Over dinner, Jisung and Felix regale them with an exciting tale of what they’ll do one day when they’re astronauts, floating around in space and making friends with all the aliens. By the time they’ve finished eating, their stirring story is punctuated with yawns. Seungmin and Changbin are leaning on each other, blinking sleepily, and Hyunjin has migrated his way to Chan’s chair, curling up on his lap with his eyes fluttering closed every few seconds as Chan strokes his hair.

Chan picks up Hyunjin and moves towards the stairs, Changbin and Seungmin slowing him down by gripping a leg each and trudging slowly along with him. Minho picks up Jisung and Felix and, unencumbered with a child on each leg, he makes it to the bathroom first. He’s already brushing Felix’s teeth as Chan and the other three enter the bathroom. He hands Changbin a toothbrush because he’s a big boy and he can brush his own teeth, and Chan kneels down next to Hyunjin.

Normally, Jisung and Hyunjin like to interrupt toothbrushing time by grabbing their toothbrushes and using them as makeshift microphones, but today all the playing at the park has them exhausted, and they stand quietly as their teeth are brushed, only shuffling around a little bit.

After toothbrushing, Hyunjin, Jisung, Felix and Seungmin shuffle after Chan in a line, to the Bunk Beds Room. Minho takes Changbin to his room, where he sleeps by himself because he’s a big boy.

After their good night kiss-cuddle, Chan lifts Seungmin and Jisung into their top bunks and tucks them in. Two forehead kisses for two adorable boys, then he leans down to tuck Felix and Hyunjin in. Two more forehead kisses for two more adorable boys. It’s Minho’s turn to give them their bedtime story, so Chan whispers a, ‘Sweet dreams,’ and backs out of the room. He bumps into Minho coming in, and Minho rests his chin on Chan’s shoulder for a moment before pushing him towards Changbin’s room.

Changbin is sitting up in bed, watching the doorway, when Chan comes in.

‘Hey there, Binnie,’ Chan says as he sits on Changbin’s bed and opens his arms for his hug.

‘Hi, Dad,’ Changbin says, face pressed into Chan’s side. Chan strokes his hair until Changbin settles back against his pillow.

‘Do you want a story or a lullaby tonight?’

Changbin doesn’t bother thinking about it. Chan already knows his answer, anyway. ‘Lullaby, please.’

‘Okay, Binnie,’ Chan hums, leaning forward to kiss his forehead. He starts singing, smiling when Changbin joins in. This is always one of his favourite parts of the day. It’s just so _lovely_ spending time with Changbin like this.

Changbin yawns and snuggles deeper into his blanket. Chan gives him one last kiss and stands up, leaving his door ajar so that the light from the hallway shines in.

Downstairs, Chan gets Jeongin’s bottle ready and feeds him his last meal of the day. He’s just changed Jeongin’s nappy, and is settling him into his cot, when Minho comes into their bedroom.

‘Come to _bed_ , Channie,’ Minho murmurs, wrapping his arms around Chan from behind. He bites back a yawn and smushes his face against Chan’s shoulder blade. ‘I’m tired.’ Minho is already in his pyjamas, somehow completely ready for bed in the short time it took Chan to feed and change Jeongin.

‘One moment, Min,’ Chan chuckles, unclasping Minho’s hands and rooting around for his toothbrush, which is somehow buried under a pile of clean socks.

Chan yawns his way through his routine, thankful once again for the miracles of muscle memory. Where would he be without it? Asleep and having forgotten to brush his teeth, probably, or asleep in his day clothes.

Chan crashes into Minho’s open arms on his way back to their room, and lets Minho pull him back until they collapse into bed.

‘Good night, Min,’ he mumbles, pressing a kiss to Minho’s shoulder. He snuggles closer and winds his arm around Minho’s waist.

‘Good night, Channie,’ Minho whispers, placing his hands over Chan’s and turning around to kiss Chan’s cheek. Chan presses his face against Minho’s shoulder blade and squeezes tighter, and they fall asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> and that's a wrap, folks.  
> Alright!! This is the first story I've shared with the world!! If you liked it please tell me, and if you noticed any mistakes or anything iffy, please tell me. Constructive criticism would be massively appreciated :D as I'm always trying to improve myself.  
> Have a wonderful day!!
> 
> edit: thanks so much for 100 kudos, it means a lot to me!! :)


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